Michael Allen Blair/MBlair@21st-CenturyMedia.com
Browns' linebacker Quentin Groves closes in on the Lions' Matthew Stafford during the fourth quarter at FirstEnergy Stadium in Cleveland, OH. on Sunday, October 13, 2013. Groves was called for roughing the passer on the play giving the Lions a first down which led to a touchdown.

In a game of throw and catch Sunday, Brandon Weeden made one of the worst throws by any Browns quarterback in 15 years and the defense could not catch the Lions’ receivers or running backs in the second half.
The result was a sobering, though not shocking, 31-17 loss to the Lions at FirstEnergy Stadium. Now the Browns have to go on the road for games in Green Bay and Kansas City the next two weeks.
The Browns led, 17-7, at halftime. They led at halftime in each of their first six games this season and squandered those leads three times. They led the Dolphins, 7-6, at intermission and were outscored, 17-3, in the final two quarters. They led the Ravens, 6-0, and were outscored 14-0.
The Sunday meltdown was the worst yet — 24-0 in the second half. So, the Browns, 3-3, have been outscored, 55-3, in the second half of the games they lost.
“We weren’t able to close the game out in the second half,” Coach Rob Chudzinski said. “That’s something we need to learn and do.”
The halftime lead started slipping away quickly in the third period.
The Browns won the coin toss and, following the NFL trend of the last two years, deferred, choosing to get the ball to start the third quarter instead of at the beginning of the game.
The third quarter began with tight end Jordan Cameron being called for a false start. Not a good sign.
The possession ended with a pass to Chris Ogbonnaya on third-and-10 from the 20 finishing a yard short. Another bad sign.
Four plays into Detroit’s first possession of the third quarter, Reggie Bush shot through a hole at left guard and was in a full sprint two strides later. It turned into a 39-yard gain and set up a screen pass to Bush from Matthew Stafford at the Browns 18. Bush followed his blocking into the end zone to cut the lead to 17-14.
The Browns went three and out each of their next two possessions. The 71,513 fans in the stands were uneasy.
By the time the Browns got their first first down of the second half, with 9 minutes, 57 seconds to play, the Lions had taken a 21-17 lead on Stafford’s second touchdown pass to rookie tight end Joseph Fauria on a pass from the Browns 23. Craig Robertson had coverage and had his back to Stafford as Fauria jumped to make the catch. Fauria celebrated by dunking the ball over the crossbar.
“I was targeted for a few touchdowns, but the rest of the game was all my team,” Fauria said. “Everybody played their butts off for a big win for us.”
It was definitely pick on Craig Robertson day for Stafford. One play before the touchdown, on third-and-7 from the Browns’ 35, Stafford threw a short pass to Brandon Pettigrew. Pettigrew used a spin move to twist Robertson into a pretzel and turned it into a 12-yard gain.
“They made more plays,” Robertson said. “I did a bad job of making my plays on our side of the ball.”
The Lions made it 24-17 on a 51-yard field goal by David Akers with 6:04 left. It was a one touchdown game, but the Browns abandoned the run as though they were down four touchdowns.
Weeden threw a short pass Josh Gordon, who turned into a 15-yard gain, and then on third-and-3 found Gordon for 18 yards to the Lions’ 44. It was the first time the Browns were in Lions territory in the second half. The visit did not last long.
On first down — not fourth down with 30 seconds left — on first down with 4:44 to play, defensive tackle Nick Fairley broke through the line and chased Weeden. The Browns QB, running backward, flipped the ball across his body, in a toss from below his waist with his hand on top of the ball, in the direction of Ogbonnaya on the left sideline.
Weeden was trying to throw the ball over Ogbonnaya out of bounds, but he didn’t throw it high enough or far enough. Lions linebacker DeAndre Levy leaped and intercepted his second pass of the day.
“He had my left ankle and I couldn’t really turn to actually throw it,” Weeden said. “I didn’t want to take a sack there and I just tried to flip it as far as I could over (Ogbonnaya’s) head.”
Fairley didn’t actually grab Weeden until Weeden threw up the prayer. Weeden said he should have taken the sack.
“As Norv (offensive coordinator Norv Turner) said, take a sack and anytime you try underhand stuff, bad things happen,” Weeden said.
The Lions turned the takeaway into Stafford’s third touchdown pass to Fauria.
The Browns scored their points on a 4-yard touchdown pass to Ogbonnaya, a 2-yard TD pass to Greg Little and a 40-yard field goal by Billy Cundiff.

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About the Author

Jeff has covered the Cleveland Browns since 1981. He also covers the Lake Erie Monsters of the American Hockey League and the Cleveland Gladiators in the Arena Football League. Reach the author at jschudel@morningjournal.com
or follow Jeff on Twitter: @JSBrownsInsider.